09 Oct 2024
We were expecting a 7 seater jeep; off-road excitement and a guide who spoke fluent English and could tell us lots of interesting and obscure things about the island.
We were picked up in a medium-sized Kia. 3 generously proportioned adults were expected to squeeze onto the back seat for 7 hours. No aircon. A driver/guide who barely spoke English. It was hugely uncomfortable, so we complained (using a translation app I should add). The driver seemed astonished that we were unhappy, but called his boss at the first stop and eventually a rather ancient and mouldy Range Rover arrived. It already had passengers in it also doing the tour, so some of them were just told to swap with us and go in our original car. Though this meant we had more space (just about adequate) we felt a bit guilty and sorry for the poor folk who were then going to be squashed all day!
The tour was OK. The only 'off-road' part was a section of road where (in typical Greek fashion) the tarmac ran out for a bit. Not what I was expecting.
Our 2nd driver spoke much better English and was good natured and fairly entertaining but not exactly a fountain of knowledge about the island. We saw the island, stopped in few nice places - hence 3 stars ‐ but didn't go to many of the places mentioned in the brochure.
We booked through Oreo travel but be aware they're all just agents selling places on the exact same tours so doesn't matter who you book with. And they will always try to make you pay cash.